The present invention generally relates to a safety restraint device for protecting vehicle occupants and more particularly a pretensioning or belt tightening device typically used to tension, i.e. tighten, that portion of the seat belt connected to a buckle.
Pretensioners or belt tighteners, as they are also called, are currently used in industry to operate in conjunction with seat belt buckles. A typical pretensioner for a seat belt retractor or buckle comprises a movable piston joined to a cable. The piston typically moves down a straight tube. The use of the straight tube creates packaging problems within the vehicle as it is difficult to orient the tube within the room that is made available.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple, compact and reliable pretensioner that can be used with a seat belt buckle.
Accordingly the invention comprises: a safety system comprising: a buckle secured to a pretensioner; the pretensioner comprising: a stationary link and stationary block; a housing slidably received upon the stationary link and movable relative to the stationary block and a pressure unit for causing the housing, and buckle operatively attached thereto, to move downwardly relative to the stationary block to thereby eliminate slack in a seat belt, and a second link 104 received through the housing for preventing rotation of the housing about the first link.
Many other objects and purposes of the invention will be clear from the following detailed description of the drawings.